Dr. Malcolm in Unison 2015

T
he generation that proclaimed “Trust no one over 30” has now reached twice that age. Hoping that
jazzercise and low-fat diets could indefinitely forestall the effects of aging, the Baby Boomers have
discovered instead that there is no suspending the laws of biology. They have entered the world of
chronic age-related illness and impairment.
Enter the gerontological nurse practitioner, like Dr. Millicent Malcolm (above right), UConn School of Nursing
assistant clinical professor. With 30 years of clinical gerontological experience and the expertise honed by a
UConn DNP degree, Malcolm brings interprofessional experience to advanced practice students and now
leads a major federally funded project to improve primary care of older adults, preventing an excessive
reliance on emergency department interventions.
4 Unison
Leading
Geriatric Education
“I began as a nursing assistant in
high school,” Malcolm observes.
“I earned my BS in nursing in 1986
and spent most of the next 13
years as an RN working with older
persons on a medical/surgical
unit and then in long term care
facilities. Through my work with
older persons as an RN, I witnessed
the need for advanced practice
nursing care for geriatric patients.”
After earning the master’s degree in nursing from
UConn and qualifying as a gerontological nurse
practitioner, Malcolm has spent the past decade
and a half with Middlesex Hospital Primary Care
in Middletown, seeing patients in sub-acute
rehabilitation, long-term care, assisted living, and
rest home facilities. She also developed a house
call practice with a large number of patients who
are no longer able to come to the office due to
their advanced age, serious medical conditions,
and frailty.
A major opportunity to fund such comprehensive
interprofessional education came in 2012
when Dean Regina Cusson invited Malcolm to
submit to the U.S. Health Resources and Services
Administration an application for a $1.4 million
Interprofessional Education and Practice grant.
Malcolm proposed Geriatric Outreach and
Training with Care (GOT Care!).
Anyone familiar with the federal grant funding
landscape knows that it is highly competitive,
but in recent years political wrangling and
gridlock on Capitol Hill has made funding even
less certain. Malcolm’s grant application was
approved but Congressional politicians’ so-called
The GOT Care! team includes clinical faculty
with geriatric expertise from nursing,
medicine, dental medicine, pharmacy,
physical therapy, social work, and public
health. Under nursing leadership, GOT Care!
provides opportunities for undergraduate
and graduate students in health fields to gain
critical knowledge and experience in the care of
vulnerable older persons with multiple chronic
conditions in an effort to improve specific
healthcare outcomes. This training also advances
care for military veterans, by including education
and practice in targeted assessments.
As Malcolm observes, “In GOT Care! we teach
the important concepts of interprofessional
practice at the beginning of each semester, then
take these trained students into the field with
the interprofessional faculty, to see how we as
a team actually execute this work in the field of
geriatrics.” 
>>>>>>>
Upon earning the DNP from UConn, Malcolm
joined the School of Nursing faculty. “I wanted
not only to learn about implementing evidence
based practice through quality improvement,
which is a hallmark of the DNP program,” Malcolm
explains, “but also wanted to prepare myself to
educate future nurse practitioners to the special
needs and care of older persons.”
“budget sequester” eliminated the funds.
Persistence, resilience, and tenacity (all
hallmarks of nursing) eventually paid off :
GOT Care! was approved for funding in
2014.
>>>>>
DID YOU KNOW? >>>
Dr. Millicent Malcolm was awarded
the 2015 AANP Nurse Practitioner
State Award for Excellence. The award
is given annually to a dedicated nurse
practitioner in each state who has
demonstrated excellence in their area of
practice. Dr. Malcolm was nominated for
the award based on her work building an
inter-professional collaborative practice
team to provide interdisciplinary
health care education
for students working with a
geriatric population. Unison 5